Atomic

In honour of the renewed threat of nuclear war posed by North Korea, and to remind us all once again that the only country to have actually used nuclear weapons is the United States, but mostly because it's damned weird...here's some nuclear and cold war themed music.

Doris Day singing a bright and breezy love song about Geiger counters!

Doris Day - Tic, Tic, Tic


I really don't understand why people in the 50s went, "Ah, the imminent threat of destruction... how romantic!"

Five Stars - Atom Bomb Baby


"Atom bomb baby, boy she can start / One of those chain reactions in my heart / A big explosion, big and loud / Mushrooms me right up on a cloud" Nuff said, really.

Lowell Blanchard - Jesus Hits Like The Atom Bomb


"Seek in Jesus in you shall find / Peace, happiness and joy divine / With my Jesus in your mind." You can put your Jesus in my mind *anytime.*

Russia, Russia (Lay that Missile Down)


This song... is amazing. "...Come to our hometown / have some weenies / don't be meanies..." If only it were this easy...

Amos Milburn - Atomic Baby


"She's got a high potential and a low resistance point / I have to be so careful, that gal might blow up the joint" The only song so far that includes something like actual science!

Peter Scott Peters - Fallout Shelter


Is this a PSA, a pop song, or just someone boasting? Not that it matters, because fallout shelters actually didn't do anything much to protect people.

Two-Ton Baker - Bert the Turtle (the Duck and Cover Song)


Awww. Useless advice in the case of an actual atomic bomb, but how cute!

Talbot Brothers of Bermuda - Atomic Nightmare


Yeah, that wouldn't work either.

Sons of the Pioneers - Old Man Atom


From the perspective of atomic power itself. "So listen, folks, here is my thesis: / "Peace in the world, or the world in pieces!"" Good stuff.

There are loads more of these songs. I got most of the songs in this post from these playlists: Cold War Classics (Atomic Platters) and "Atomic, commie oddities", which also includes a lot of interesting (and, once again, pretty useless) safety PSAs (including one by Groucho Marx) and other videos. And you can't tell what is the satire and what isn't:

George Mckelvey - My Radiation Baby (my Teenage Fallout Queen)


Ok, maybe sometimes you can.